12/9 Martyn Oates's Blog

Martyn Oates's Blog         Laws, Labour and loving the Liberal Democrats November 26, 2010 at 9:03 PM   A standoffish and obstructive attitude cost Labour the chance to revive the Lib-Lab pact earlier this year, according to Yeovil MP and coalition plenipotentiary extraordinaire David Laws. A stark contrast, he says, with the Cameroons' chummy eagerness to give and take during the coalition negotiations. In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content. Beyond the bad mood music, Laws claims it was Labour's unwillingness to make any concessions worth having that really killed the Lib-Lab talks. In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content. It's not like him to be banging on about the economy, of course. He was after all, Chief Secretary to Treasury - albeit with a brevity akin to Lady Jane Grey's nine days as Queen of England. He's also got a background in the City and a First in economics from Cambridge. But to claim that Labour's refusal to budge on issues like public spending and the deficit strangled a Lib-Lab coalition at birth is rather odd. Or perhaps rather illuminating. On the big overarching issue of deficit reduction and public spending cuts, the Lib Dems were patently far closer to Labour than the Conservatives during the election campaign. The obvious corollary of David Laws verdict on the Lib-Lab talks is that the happy-go-lucky Tories were prepared to compromise their economic principles to suit the Lib Dems. The Coalition Agreement, on the other hand, appeared to saddle the Lib Dems with just the kind of deep, rapid cuts agenda they'd been denouncing from every available pulpit just days before. Listening to Mr Laws, though, it hardly comes across as the price paid for power. Anyway, with the coalition partners apparently getting on so famously it now seems Labour, too, might be pining to join the love-in. This week our own Ben Bradshaw claimed to be an old hand at "loving the Lib Dems into submission". In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content. The roots of all this Libdemophilia go back before the election. And far beyond the competitive enthusiasm to "agree with Nick" during the televised prime ministerial debates. Two years ago, the avuncular Eric Pickles (him again) was already love-bombing the Lib Dems with his imploring music hall refrain of "Lend us your votes..." The question is whether you need a bit more ballast amidships than the famously svelte Mr Bradshaw - and the authentic voice of the West Riding to boot - to really pull the thing off. I'll sign off now and leave the last word to the Big Man himself. Here he is doing his stuff at Toryfest 2008. In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.             This email was sent to asad.ali2.mirjat@blogger.com. Delivered by Feed My Inbox PO Box 682532 Franklin, TN 37068 Account Login Unsubscribe Here